Good morning,

I got the milky oil in my '99 3.8L, and I presume I have to replace the LIM gasket (at the very least). A couple of questions:

Is there some way to tell, for certain, if the LIM gasket was the problem after I have it pulled off just by looking at it? I know the wisdom is to go ahead and do the head gaskets at the same time while you have it apart, but after reading about it in my Haynes Manual, I'm not too comfortable with doing that myself.

Also, those Haynes manual instructions are helpful but don't have a lot of pictures to help. Does anyone know of a better resource for instructions? I've searched youtube, and all I can find are a ton of vids for front wheel drive 3800's. No Camaros. I'd like to see exactly what I'm dealing with so I don't mess it up. I don't have the $1000+ to take it to the shop.

***Edit*** I noticed the Intake manifold gasket kits that come from Autozone (for example) don't include the Upper Gasket or the throttle body gasket. Are these reusable? Or should I plan on buying those also?

Please the excuse the noobish questions. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

if you got antifreeze in the oil the motor is toast. look for a low mile 3.8 and change the motor. you'll be money and time ahead. brb

 

have a look here. https://camaroforums.com/forum/93-02...nt-info-57568/

 

Antifreeze in the oil pan will soon cause the bearings to die, if nothing else do not run the engine and change the oil.

 

I had an engine blow the lower manifold gaskets and put about a gallon of coolant in the crankcase, I still drive the truck today with the same engine and no issues. I can only say that because I was running Synthetic Oil in my engine and Synthetic does not break down like dead dino does when exposed to water and coolant. Craby's statement about your engine being toast is prolly right if you have put any miles on the engine with the oil in it's condition. The link he posted about where to get a new engine is as accurate as I could make it and I researched the info there for a few days while searching for an engine for my own car.

As for doing the head gaskets they are not hard at all. THe head bolts are Torque to Yield which means they are only to be used ONCE!! as for putting them back on it again is not that hard. Simply use a torque wrench to get the bolts to the correct initial torque, and in the order your manual states (this is very important) then using a torque angle meter (available at some part stores and all over e-bay) you then tighten them to the correct angle. So if it says to torque the bolts to 35 Ft Lbs and then 90° you simply set the torque wrench to 35# tighten each one in order till it clicks, then turn them an aditional 90°. This method sounds odd but it insures that each bolt is putting the exact same ammount of pressure on the gasket no matter how long the bolt is. TTY bolts do not exert the same pressure at the same torque when they are different lengths, this method insures that they do.

Massey

 

As said if your motor was drive any distance with coolant in the oil then the extra pressure causes the glycol to break into an acid. The acid strips the babbit from the bearing, the babbit redeposit all through the motor. Motors can seem fine but in 90% of the case they will spin a bearing in less then 2000 miles. Most don't make it a week.

If you think the car did not run too long pull the filter, don't dump it. Dip you finger in the oil, whip in on a paper towel now get under a strong light or even a magnifier of some kind and look for shinny stuff. In many cased you will see it on your finger but if you do not see any, you have a chance. Even then it is a roll of the dice. I have seen a lot of scrap motors with new head gaskets on them

You can download a copy of the GM manual from the manual sections on this forum.

 

Thanks for the replies. Sorry its been so long for me to get back to you.

After I found the problem, I parked the car and got my 2013. After I got the first replies to this thread, I changed the oil and ran it a little bit to coat the insides with good oil. I'm going to buy the lower intake gasket kit, do the repair, change the oil again, put it back on the road and *If* the leak problem is fixed, change the oil AGAIN after a month. Hopefully all of the milk will be out of the engine after all of that. At that point, I'd feel better about selling it or maybe holding it for my youngest daughter as her first car.

Next question, would it be worth it to go full synthetic for the remainder of the life of the car? I understand their may be damage to the bearings already.

Thanks.

 

this will help http://www.dxsoftware.com/magnus/v6headscam.htm make sure to get the metal lower intake gasket and not that cheap plastic crap.

 

I started working on this today. Got it down to the lower intake manifold before I ran out of time for the day. I can see its probably going to be one of those things where its takes one day to tear it down and 3 to put it back together, but that's ok. I just want to get it fixed.

As I was taking it apart, it occurred to me it would be a good time to dress up the engine a bit. I was thinking about cleaning and painting the plennum, LIM, valve covers, etc. My car color is pewter, so it would easy to paint these parts aluminum, but I'd like to do something else. Has anyone with a pewter or silver camaro done this and what colors did you use. Please post pics, if possible.

Thanks.

 

on my lt1 i used black on the intake manifold and had it powder coated, turned out great and does not show dirt and such near as bad as brighter color would. also after 3 years it still looks great.